A Prayer for the Crown-Shy begins with a prayer of praise to the gods of Panga. A fuller description of the Pangan religious system appears in the previous book of the Monk & Robot series, but this epigraph economically encapsulates and anticipates the structure, themes, and concerns of A Prayer for The Crown-Shy.

The prayer praises first the parent gods. Trikilli is the God of the Threads. This is the god of science, including chemistry, physics, and the structure of the universe. Grylom is the God of the Inanimate and so is concerned with objects. Bosh is the God of the Cycle, including the cycles of time, life, and death. The second stanza of the prayer praises the Children Gods, including Chal, the God of Constructs. This is the god of human constructions and creations (as opposed to godly creation). Samafar is the God of Mysteries, including the unknown and unknowable. Allalae is the God of Small Comforts, provider and protector of those objects and practices that comfort and restore humans.

The prayer also reveals that the gods are unlike and separate from humans, although they both create and sustain them.